Magic, back in work off his hols - back to eejit status but his feet are sooooo concave. Usually by this time of year the soles have filled in from living on concrete, but with rubber in one barn and stone in the other it appears we have permanent concavity! His collateral grooves are probably the deepest I've ever seen. I struggle to get the tip of the hoof pick to the bottom of them!
Max - coming on nicely. Strangely was much much better last week when confined to the yard with his mud fever.... less good again now he's back out in the bog. Seems to find deep going much more difficult than hard going.
Aero and Ben going great.
Everyone eating too much haylage and trying to spend 24/7 in the yard if only I'd feed them more!
Justine is doing great but still riding with front boots if the surface is not great. Low speed videoing has shown that she is not so keen to land heel first.
I'm amazed at how long it is taking to get her feet back to where they were before the shoes went on.
From Apr to end Aug (5 months) she was in egg bar shoes and her front hoof went from 3 to 4cm from the apex of the frog to the toe.
Now, it has been 4 months since we wipped the shoes off and I can definitely see the wall angle changing and coming down. Only now have the frogs grown back enough to meet the heels. Her feet were great before the shoes went on - I cannot believe that in less than 5 months (and a lot of cutting by the farrier) they had changed so much !
Last couple of months has been spent more doing groundwork (which was desperately needed) so movement has been more twisty/turny and in paddock when soft (without boots if nice and soft) , but less hacking so less mileage in straight line. No adverse effect on hind but I dont feel fronts are as 'strong' as they could be. Not lame but not 100% in trot all the time. Been getting out more recently and Christmas hols mean we will continue (booted on hard ground) and will monitor progress.
about 1-2" of flared horn still to go and then should be on horn grown with increased Mag, linseed, vits etc. Cant wait as if his other keratinaceous bits (skins/coat) are anything to go by it should be pretty good.
My guys up here all great and enjoying a few days of dry and bright weather after wet or icy ground for weeks. Polly looking marvelous, and as always, stonking feet. He loves climbing things, so took him through some rough ground yesterday with slopes to clamber up and logs to jump. For a lardy-boy, he's quite nimble.
Unfortunately my friend's mare has stood on a piece of barbed wire and punctured her hoof - right about a third of the way down the frog from the heel - right on the frog/collateral groove boundary. Vet dug and you can see the line of entry. Thankfully it has abscessed and there's puss, so the right things are happening and it's probably not so deep as it has touched DDfT or NavB in which case she would be a lot more sore. We were planning a hack at the weekend too!
Saturday: Quick update on Rosie, my friends Arab. She's much more comfortable and the vet is much more optimistic about the outcome today. still puss and blood coming down on the poultice but the horse is less distressed and moving more comfortably around her stable. She's not really an "easy" patient, bit of a marey mare to be honest.
Sunday Shoes off day for a friend's cob. It is sad really, he had been bare for years, I saw his feet when he arrived and they were pretty good on the whole. Now after just a year of shoes he's got narrow poor frogs, very weak heels and generally poor front feet. We compared them with my cob - they looked much the same a year ago and the difference between them was the cause for some snuffling. So hopefully we'll see some more positive changes in the next couple of months.
Watch for growth in the grass - the milder weather this week has seen some fresh green tips breaking through up our way.
End of Dec report and a whole year of owner trimming !!
Why am I up at 2am - stonking cold and cannot sleep as too much snot !!
It's pouring out now I have sat up with a cup of tea!!
Anyway - ponies are stonking too but in the foot department. We have had a couple of days of minus night temps and this has made the ground rutted and rock hard. LGL pone is trotting over this with no bother for the first time ! Yee ha - nothing has changed apart from field has been made bigger due to strip grazing and she has been belting round it with her chum alot lately so maybe extra movement. Would still like heels to be lower but I guess they will in their own time. Quarters got a bit flaky when I last trimmed so maybe she is trying to scoop them out like a wild pony ? Wish I had taken more photos and wish I could learn to post them on here to see what a difference a year has made.
Hope you all had a good Xmas and Happy New Year and lets all hope for maximum soundness in 2009.
Boy had had a busy couple of weeks and has been loving it.
He dressed up as a christmas tree and won a jumping class with my little sister.
Click to see full size image
On boxing day we went to the beach. 3 mile gallop across nice firm sand and he & his barefoot friends managed it far easier than their shod companion.
Frogs are now looking very beefy on hinds & rapidly catching up in front
Tyler continues to be rock stomping despite mostly working in the sand school while being backed
x
Still wasn't right after that loss of heel in front. So threw out a big abcess on right hind heel bulb too, then much happier. Load of sole bruising came out a couple of weeks ago. Sound, happy and jiggly out riding with boots in front though. Front heel almost normal now, collateral groove back to proper depth but there's a bit that's manky so being soaked & scrubbed still.
Had her massaged today, very tight through right hand side - all leg/foot problems in last few months have been that side though so not surprising. Posture immediately afterwards lotslots better. Will get her done again in a couple of weeks to consolidate the improvements.
I was hospitalised for 5 nights over Christmas with my poxy lungs, so moving to new yard on full livery cos I can't cope DIY at the moment - only 7 hours turnout a day but completely grass free and she will at least have company, so it's swings and roundabouts... I will be able to do much more riding she'll be ringing the union!
Condition - she is still embarassingly fat, but the podge is going down steadily and she doesn't need many rugs! Increased work level at new yard will only help.
Finished off my year today with a lovely 4 hour hack in the frigid sunshine to the woods and round the hill and back again!
But it was COLD!!!! Struggled to get above freezing all day here and ground solid.
Had put on Link's Easy Bare boots becuase I thought he might need them - but ended up taking then off half way round because he was short striding and getting tense shoulders - once they were off he opened out freely with his usual big ground covering walk. I use them less and less now, there will come a time soon I hope when we won't need them at all.
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His collateral grooves are probably the deepest I've ever seen. I struggle to get the tip of the hoof pick to the bottom of them!
but I dont feel fronts are as 'strong' as they could be. Not lame but not 100% in trot all the time. Been getting out more recently and Christmas hols mean we will continue (booted on hard ground) and will monitor progress.
